“The agreement was fraught with questions because it was silent on two critical points: the width of the proposed safe zone, which varied from 70 miles to over 300 miles, and Washington’s ability to help enforce a cease-fire as U.S. troops have left combat areas,” Sune Engel Rasmussen and Raja Abdulrahim write for the Wall Street Journal.
 
“What the US was doing in northern Syria was smart and efficient. Kurdish forces assumed the bulk of the combat role against ISIS; the US contribution was modest and largely confined to advising and providing intelligence support. Moreover, the US presence restrained the actions of the Turks, Syrians, Russians, and Iranians. With the withdrawal of US troops, that restraint disappeared overnight,” CFR President Richard N. Haass writes for Project Syndicate.
 
CFR’s Max Boot writes that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s ties with Turkey must change.